The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-11-29
LITTLE jim.
BY MONTGOMERY NJ. FOLSOM.
For The Constitution.
Among the hills of Annandale
The gentle Johnstones ride:
A thousand year they hive been here,
thousand they'll abide"


Among the hills of Annandale
The gentle Johnstones ride;
thousand year they have been here,
thousand they'll abide.'
He was but a mere lad Little-well his real
name was not "Jim,'' but he gave that name
to the recruiting officer.
lie had crept out of the back window of the
old country home after the last cricket had
sung itself to sleep, and the dew had fallen on
the long grass and glistened on the over-ripe
pods of the iimson weeds; and he had made
his way to the nearest camp, and-best luck of
all-he struck the gallant company, Fifth Ken
lucky regiment
This was the celebrated "Lewis' regiment,
which had seen the dun and dreadful pallor of
war shroud many fair field
Little Jim did not care iot. He was sol
der, and that was all lie desired on earth. He
left good home, ran away from doting
mother, the little rapscallian, and with all his
gentle blood and breeding, he threw himself
into line with one of those veteran regiments
that had helped to make the thunder roll from
the banks of the Potomac to the bloody field
of Chickamauga.
wish had time to tell you how he was
drilled into service. i know him well, for he
is a retired veteran now and has no more long
ing to
'' Seek the bubble reputation
/ the cannons mouth"
Hello mclish, what's yer name?" asked
George Elbridge, as the gawky youth present
ed himself.
Jimmy B. replied The boy. And as he
uttered the first falsehood of his life his black
eyes grew misty and great choking lump
arose i'll his throat, but he clenched his teeth
and set those thin aristocratic lips firmly
together and Shermans whole army could not
have forced him then to disclose his identity.
"Well, pardner, you're a little chicken, but
L s'pose you're like these Georgy pateridges-
soon as you're Matched you go to scratchin',
'thout even waiting for your feathers to dry"
And SO Little Jim became a soldier. The
proud mother wept a few bitter tears when she
awoke next morning and found that the one
being on earth whom she loved best had thrown
himself into the wide whirlpool of war.
But Mrs B. was a southern woman. She
boosted as long and honorable descent as an
English duchess. So she closed her lips, like
Little Jim, and forced back her tears and
uttered an inward prayer for the safety of her
child
Oh, those glorious southern womenl Theirs
Z is the grandest instance of patriotic devotion
and self-denying sacrifice that the world ever
saw. Let the carpers and critics and those
whose malicious venom can never be counter
acted by a drop of the milk of human kind
ness let them and such as they say what they
please about the political aspects of the CON
tlict; let them Willy the cause and place the
men who supported that cause in whatever
light they will-the yilest bastard that history
can produce will never impugn the motives of
our glorious southern women!
Well, Little Jim soon got on the ragged
edge. lie got out at the elbows, worn and tat
tered, but he bore it all like veteran FL
bridge used to say: "I'm burned sorry that ere
little teller Jim want horned III kentucky.
L tell you what, he bruiser!"
by and by the army began to retreat. The
brave Kentucky regiment, that had been five
times decimated but never daunted, had to
give way. Sherman was coming.
In Macon there were few hospital rats and
invalids and broken-down soldiers, and all such
cracked and disfgured bric-a-brac of war.
They had the souls of heroes though, and the
earth is still SCARED where their handiwork
was made apparent.
a.
forward marchl"
Like the blue norther that sometimes be-
clouds the Texan horizon they came.
"Trampi trampi tramp"
Sherman had started to the sea.
But grey clouds, often mo bigger than a
mans hand, huttered along on either side Of
that blasting cyclone of sodiery. They met
the schooled veteran, the raw recruit, old men,
young men, boys aDd-women!
Georgia rose in her imperial ma jesty and
with enfeebled and bleeding hands defantly
flung back the gauntlet of defiance in the face
of her powerful foe.
1t was on pale December evening Wien the
Fifth Kentucky rode down the street and filed
across the pontoon bridge that had been swung
across the river. This was needful, for the old
Ocmul%ec was enangered 1T the bold intrusion
and sympathized with the fair city for which
she had stood god-motler. So the bridge was
swept away, and Sherman must swim the river
with his legions ere he could capture Macon.
Little Jim was awful hungry. He sat astride
awoe-begone plantation mule, so old that he had
begun to "stem his fodder" and Jim had an
old grey oycrcoat and it had been patched with
piece Of kerscy CLOTH the only means at hand
TO close the rent in his armor. His toes were
out and they were blue with cold. To add to
his discontinue, a whole gang of town boys
followed after him, shriekng with laughter,
and crying:
ooh, what sort of soldier is that?"
At another time Jim would have dismounted
and taught them o lesson in good manners, but
he had not gone bug hunting with his long
Enfield rifle slung at his back. lie was after
nobler game. He was going, as young David
went, across the stream to meet the dreaded
Goiah Of the union army. His eye flashed
with resentment, but Eldridge rode up and
said:
"Jest watch them there dinged little rats
bet you If Sherman were to throw o shell over
here they'd disappear from the face O. the
earth'
He was the "child Of the regiment" and
the tail Of the column. just as he refined up
his dilapidated war charger on the bank Of the
stream little negro boy ran up to him and
| said:
"Heah's some bread Miss Nellie sont you
she say you look hopgry."
For the first time those firmly pressed lips
twltched with feeling. He accepted the piece
of bread and ate it with relish as he urged his
mule on to the shaky bridge. Down through
/ q q mil bos
mont the confcderatos deployed, and formed in
| line along the eastern bank. on the ground
where DeSoto pitched his camp hundreds OF
years before The men had not more than got
in position when q shrek rent the evening air,
passed over their heads, and struck the earth
a loud explosion followed, and Little Jim saw
q cloud Of dust thrown up.
"Bet you don't know what that Ia, melish p"
said Eldridge in quizzical manner. "That
thing was a she'll from a yankee gun, and
they're a placin' their sights SOS 70 git our
range. So you'd better lay low, meish"
Darkness quickly fell, and the landscape was